ALBANY -- Bernie Sanders praised supporters Monday in the Southern Tier for beating back hydraulic fracturing in New York, saying the state's ban is important to protect the environment and fight climate change.

"I want to applaud you for standing up to Governor Cuomo and demanding that New York state ban fracking," Sanders said in a speech in Binghamton.

"What you have done is proof to the world that when people stand up and form a grassroots movement of environmentalists, public-health advocates, farmers, working families and religious leaders, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish."

New York's ban, which took effect in 2015, is one of the key issues in the Democratic primary battle in New York between Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The primary is April 19.

The gas-rich Southern Tier was at the heart of New York's fracking fight. Neighboring Pennsylvania had an economic boom because of drilling for natural gas, but also dealt with the environmental concerns.

Environmentalists trailed the Democratic governor during his first term, urging him to ban fracking. Business groups pressed for it to be legal, and Cuomo appeared to be considering limiting drilling in parts of the Southern Tier, but ultimately ruled in favor of the ban.

"I am not going to put the health at risk for jobs," Cuomo said after the decision. "I’m not going to make that choice. I’m not going to make it in the Southern Tier. I’m not going to make it anywhere in the state. I believe we can have jobs, and they can be in healthy communities,

Sanders and Clinton have backed New York's ban, but their positions are different.

Sanders is calling for a nationwide ban on fracking, while Clinton supports the states’ right to choose whether to allow it. She wants strict regulations and disclosure rules.

"When it comes to fracking, I supported Governor Cuomo as I have supported other states which have said, “No, we’re not going to do it’ because I want the states, which actually have most of the authority, to determine these issues," Clinton said in an interview last week with Time Warner Cable News.

Sanders, though, said he and Clinton "have very strong differences of opinion."

"In my view, if we’re serious about safe and clean drinking water, if we’re serious about clean air, if we are serious about protecting the health of children and our families, if we’re serious about combating climate change, we need to put an end to fracking not only in New York and Vermont, but all over this country," he said in Binghamton.

He said voters pressed Cuomo to support a higher wage and the fracking ban.

"What may have been seen as unrealistic or pie in the sky just a few years ago has now been achieved in New York because you made it happen," Sanders continued. "And that is how real change always occurs, when people stand up and fight back."

All three Republican candidates support fracking, though John Kasich has blocked it in Ohio state parks.

Trump said last month that New York has been “let down” by Cuomo’s fracking ban.

"If they fracked in New York, New York would lower its taxes, would have no debt, would be making a fortune,” Trump said in New Orleans. “Instead, Pennsylvania took all of their money just like you never saw anything.”